Events Planner Organizes Bookstore Opening

For Kaye Peloquin, a former events planner, opening a bookstore in Lititz, Pennsylvania, has involved a long journey composed of hundreds of small steps. The 2,500-square-foot store, Buckhill Bookshop, will open around June 1. "Either right before or right after BEA, probably in the middle of the Harry Potter madness," joked Peloquin.

Peloquin, mother of three sons, appears to operate from a long, orderly to-do list and a busy telephone. She and her husband, a sales manager for a building products company, have done a tremendous amount of prep work before ordering a single book. Each decision has been based on extensive research and deliberation. Peloquin told BTW that they began the process by attending SCORE classes (Service Corps of Retired Executives) to determine what type of small business would be the best fit for them. Many people in this bedroom community of Lancaster had complained about the long drive to a bookstore -- 20 to 25 miles to a chain store and 40 miles to the nearest Book Sense store. Although the town has a number of Christian bookstores, none offered the variety Peloquin envisioned.

While researching the general subject of bookstores, Peloquin quickly found the ABA site and from there learned of Paz & Associates bookselling workshops and the Book Sense Program. She attended the Paz course in Portland, Oregon, and the NAIBA show and returned from both with dozens of ideas on her list. She also made a connection with bookstore architect Dennis DeLorenzo, who is affiliated with Paz.

A Little About Lititz

Located in the scenic Pennsylvania Dutch country, Lititz is a mid-18th-century town of 8,200. The historic downtown includes many craft and antique shops -- "Very Norman Rockwellish," as described by Peloquin. Settled and populated by the Moravian Church, the town has always been on the conservative side, said Peloquin. In the past, chess, checkers, and ice-skating were all barred. Music became the most popular diversion, but the acclaimed town orchestra lacked a percussion section as drums were considered too militaristic by the pacifist Moravian Church. The Church was intensely involved in all parts of community life. Until 1819, by Church decree, all marriages were decided by lots. The names of six eligible girls were placed on scrolls in a coconut shell and drawn by the prospective groom. The name drawn was considered the selection of Divine Providence and always the one he would marry.

Peloquin, aware of the strong religious influence in the town, determined that Buckhill Bookshop should provide a "middle-of-the-road" inventory. "No erotica" and no specifically "Christian titles or inspirational." Other stores in and out of the area can provide both ends of the spectrum.

Location, Location, Location

The Peloquins opted to locate their new store in a strip mall rather than directly in the downtown. She explained, "The stores there cater to tourists and close early every day. The downtown completely shuts down. It would kill us to have the short hours of the touristy stores and no parking." Realizing that the store needed to open "somewhere with a more residential clientele," Peloquin said, "we will be in phase four of a fairly new strip mall with a Merle Norman Day Spa. It has the usual -- Blockbuster Video, General Nutrition, and some browseable stores. We are also directly behind a new outpatient MRI facility and a hospital. There is going to be a lot more lunchtime traffic."

Demographically, the Peloquins believed that the affluent community can support a bookstore. "Within the two miles around the site, the income level is about $70,000. A lot of CEOs and people in upper management from Lancaster live here."

What's in a Name

The store name, Buckhill, was selected by the Peloquins because it refers to one of the original farms on which the new store will be built. "I asked permission of the family members still remaining, and they were thrilled. They love the idea. We have a large retiree community, so for them, there is name recognition."

Peloquin also wants to cultivate relationships with some of the retirees as staff for the store. "I always want to have two people in the store. We'd like to pair one of the older people with some of the high schoolers. We want people who will remember when customer service was paramount -- when each person was greeted with, Can I help you? 'I'm hoping that will rub off on the younger staff."

Gathering Book Sense

"I've spent a lot of time going into books stores on the East Coast and asking them questions," said Peloquin. "The stores ran the gamut." Peloquin explained why she only included Book Sense stores in her survey: "I assumed that the stores affiliated with the ABA and Book Sense would be the ones who had done enough research. These are the people who are a little more savvy about business than the average. I was impressed with the strength of being in the group -- things like being able to offer the shared gift certificates."

Starting this month, Peloquin said she would begin meeting with reps "and let them lead me once they know about this community and its concerns. I want their input." The store will carry sidelines, too. "For toys, I'm ordering award-winning toys only," she said, and, regarding children's titles, she noted, "I'm tending toward the Newberys and the Caldecotts. Classics …I'd like the tried and true."

Establishing strong ties with the community will be a major goal for Buckhill Bookshop. Peloquin explained, "I'm reaching out to schools, literary clubs, the writer's studio. [I'm] talking to everyone I meet. I have said to all the people I contact, 'This will be your store.' I ask them what they'd like to see. What books have made a difference to you?"

Book Sense 76 selections will be featured as well. "I'm very excited about the Book Sense 76 lists," Peloquin said. "I'm looking forward to teaching my community what the Book Sense 76 is. I want to influence the local newspaper to use the Book Sense Bestseller lists on its books page instead of the New York Times list. They could ask all the local booksellers, What are your bestsellers, here in town?"

Peloquin expects to have the keys from the landlord on May 1. "He'll be handing us a 3,200-square-foot vanilla box -- sheetrock and a back wall. Everything else we'll do. It's like waiting for a baby to be born…There are very different stores with people who got into bookselling purely because they love books and those who went into it purely as a business. We're looking at our store as a business run by people who love books." -- Nomi Schwartz

Note: Look for updates from Kaye Peloquin and Buckhill Bookshop in future issues of BTW.

For more information on the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), go to http://www.score.org/.